Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada

Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, one of Bolivia's most important reformist and businesspeople, whose fortune is based on mining, became president on Aug. 6, 2002, after winning the elections that year thanks to a political Congress alliance with former president Jaime Paz Zamora (1989-1993). He was also Presidente from 1993 to 1997.

In his first term in office (1993-1997), he carried out a process of partial privatisation, which put state enterprises and the country's oilfields under the control of transnational corporations. Also reformed the corrupted Pension Funds, created a bono for all bolivian over 65 years old to be paid from profits of privatized companies, distributed an important part ot the national budget to local governments in an effort to stop corruption, crated a maternity free care program for all women, and more than a dozen of other reforms.

Goni -- Sánchez de Lozada's nickname -- is also sometimes referred to as the gringo because of his U.S. accent, a result of living in exile for years in the United States.

On 17 October 2003 Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada resigned from the Bolivian presidency after allies in his coalition government abandoned him and as many as 50 people died that week in police crackdowns on continued massive protests. 

He flew to Miami in a self-imposed exile. According to the Associated Press: He "thanked" the U.S. government for its support but lamented that it had not given him $150 million in aid that he had requested. He said he had warned President Bush during a trip to Washington that there could be social unrest in Bolivia.

"I told him, `Forgive me for using this visit to ask you for $150 million, which is the gap we have in our budget because of the instability of the electoral process,'" he said. "I told him I dared to make that request because when I would come back asking for political asylum a year later he would ask me what had happened".

Here is the full text of the letter of resignation submitted by Bolivian President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada to the Congress in La Paz.

The letter was read out by a Congress secretary at an emergency session of the legislature broadcast live on Bolivian ATB Red Nacional de Television.

Honourable Congressmen: Bolivia is facing a critical time. Democracy is under siege by corporate, political and union groups that do not believe in it and use it in any way they please.

All this has manifested itself in a scenario of sedition that on the pretext of natural gas exports has violated the essence of democracy - respect for the outcome of elections held to choose rulers.

While talks were rejected, that issue has been used to make me resign.

I have been blamed not only for the current problems the republic is facing, but also for the lack of solutions.

If that were the issue, my resignation, which I am placing at the consideration of the honourable National Congress, should be enough to solve the nation's problems.

But even though I want this fervently, I am afraid that the solution will not be that easy.

The deep roots of this crisis oblige one to make an essential analysis that the passions currently unleashed do not allow.

Time will do this for us, and I commend myself to it in order to find the serene and objective balance that circumstances currently prevent us from achieving.

For us Bolivians, it has cost a great deal to attain and keep democracy.

Today we know that democracy is a privilege we must preserve in order to keep the Bolivian nation united.

With freedom and dignity, the president of the Republic is the symbol of this unity amid national diversity, a diversity that must be a source of pride, not of conflict and violence.

As I submit my resignation for the consideration of the honourable National Congress, I do so with the profound conviction that its acceptance is no longer consistent with the norm that a democratically elected president cannot be removed through outlawed mechanisms of pressure and violence.

This is an unfortunate precedent for democracy in Bolivia and the continent.

According to Article 68, paragraph 4, of the Political Constitution, Congress must decide whether to accept or reject it.

If it accepts, the vice president of the Republic should take over the presidency and perform its duties until the end of the constitutional term, in accordance with Article 93, paragraph 2 of the Constitution.

This is a task that Congress must tackle with the responsibility demanded by these times.

It is my duty, however, to warn you that the dangers looming over the fatherland remain intact - national disintegration, authoritarianism by corporations and unions, and fratricidal violence.

These dangers stem from historical circumstances and the fact that the essence of democracy has been questioned.

I hope to God that we will not be made to regret all this one day.

Honourable Congressmen: I have served Bolivia with unlimited devotion and dedication.

This is the best reward I could have earned in my life. I thank God for this privilege, and I ask him, from the bottom of my heart, to enlighten and bless all Bolivians.

17 October 2003. Signed by Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, constitutional president of the Republic of Bolivia.

Source: BBC News

Published: 2003/10/18 07:15:22 GMT